Friday, 4 February 2005

I've been a fan of Russell since I discovered Riddley Walker by accident in a 2nd hand book store in 1988 and became obsessed after that. Especially after Kleinzeit.

I could go on at length....I remember reading about SA4QE and then promptly forgetting, only to be chuffed when at my local fruit shop in Sydney in 2002 or 2003, I found a page with a quote from Kleinzeit. Basically I was hurrying home after shopping at the Broadway Shopping Centre and it was stuck to a pylon. I can recall that when I saw it I was aware of SA4QE and I left it there for others to enjoy too. The exact quote shall remain unknown, a part of the waves and particles of words that float endlessly on.

Each year I've tried to remember to participate and FINALLY! this year I'm on the money.

So, this morning, I purchased 10 fresh yellow A4 pages. I work for the ABC (sister to the BBC) and I ended up putting 5 copies at work, 3 near lift entrances but the other 2 which may be unspotted for a while are a series of 'Emergency Buidling Exit' signs. Imagine 3 laminated A4 cards in a plastic wall bracket close to the entrance of an office space, one is coloured white, one red and one yellow. I slipped the yellow A4 in the place of the other one and given most people probably ignore it, eventually it will hit them. Perhaps some observant people will notice straight off the bat.

Of the other 5 I put one in a local bank who uses yellow as it's main colour, it lasted 1 minute before an eager employee picked it up at took it inside the security area! I placed one in a supermarket near my kids' school, and also put one in Summer Hill in memory of Judy Tihany, who I never knew, though I know the music of Mic Conway.

I'll try and send you a photo of them. I've chosen a selection of quotes - as I'm in the middle of moving house, the books aren't easy to find. I chose some quotes that have been already used, but I loved. The only Hoban book not packed was The Medusa Frequency, I used one quote "Being is not a steady state..." [probably my favourite] but wanted to choose something else as well. I settled for this:

There's no end to me, no limit, no way to define or measure me, no way of knowing what I am or how much of me there is.

There is an endless surging and undulating of me, an endless cycle of ebb and flow; that is called the sea. Little moments of me have lines drawn before and after and these moments are given names like Orpheus and Eurydice and they become stories. But I am wordless, heaving in the ocean night of me, stirring in the dark trees, breathing in and breathing out my soul.

from The Medusa Frequency

Sorry to ramble. Just wanted to finally say hi and thanks for the site and I hope you enjoy the Some-Poasyum next weekend.

regards

Paul

P.S. I create abstract electronic music under the name pimmon, my first CD was called 'Waves and Particles'. One track was called 'the black that we crave', but out of context I think some people were a little unsure of what I meant. I wrote to Russell via email around 1999 and got a very nice reply and I sent a CD of some early work. I'm sure it wasn't to his liking, but I just wanted to say thanks for all the wonderful creative output that has given me a jolt quite often.

SA4QE is now on russellhoban.org!

The Slickman A4 Quotation Event (SA4QE) is an annual literary activity in which fans of the novelist Russell Hoban celebrate his birthday on 4 February by placing favourite quotations from his books in public places.

SA4QE posts are now being recorded over at the official Russell Hoban website www.russellhoban.org. See you there! In the meantime, enjoy the huge archive of quotations, reports and photos on this site dating from 2002 when the event started, up to and including 2012.

New Russell Hoban website launched!

Updated 21/10/12: A new website devoted to Russell Hoban was launched last month. Containing a biography, information pages on the books and scores of essential links, russellhoban.org is the definitive guide to all things Hobanesque.The site also has a forum and is inviting submissions of original content such as essays. Registered users can also add to a "gallery of editions" which aims to crowd-source a comprehensive list of all editions of Russell Hoban's books.

Also, on 4 October 2012 Walker published a beautiful new children's book. Rosie's Magic Horse is illustrated by the legendary Quentin Blake (with whom Russ had formerly collaborated on Trouble on Thunder Mountain, among other titles) and tells the story of a little girl and her collection of ice-lolly sticks, which dream of being a horse.

russell hoban news

Russell Hoban's last novel Angelica Lost and Found was published in November 2010 and is available from Amazon and all good bookshops. There were good reviews of the book in the Guardian and Independent and an excellent interview with Russell Hoban in the Scotsman, as well as a revealing audio interview at Tim Haigh Reads Books.

2010-2011 activity

Between late 2010 and early 2011 Russell Hoban took part in an almost unprecedented number of media activities to promote his new book Angelica Lost and Found and the 30th anniversary of his most famous novel, Riddley Walker. SA4QE blogged about all of these events and this site contains some exclusive content from them:

On 15 February 2011 Russ took part in a brilliant conversation with Will Self at the British Library about Riddley Walker; SA4QE has a full multimedia report including a transcript, photos and a video of Self reading a classic passage from the book.

Between 29 September and 16 October 2011 the Trouble Puppet Theatre Company in Austin, Texas staged a version of Riddley Walker. Russell Hoban was supportive of the production. Details can be found on the Trouble Puppet site. There is currently talk of the show touring to other venues in the US.

Russell Hoban reader survey results are in!

Save Gaby's Deli

The London restaurant Gaby's Deli, which is mentioned in Russell Hoban's books The Bat Tattoo and Linger Awhile, is under threat. The landlords want to close it and, reportedly, replace it with a chain restaurant. Give their Facebook page a like or sign their petition.

Still available - the 2005 Russell Hoban Convention booklet

In 2005 the first international convention for Russell Hoban fans took place in London, and was marked by the publication of a fantastic 48-page booklet featuring exclusive contributions from innumerable fans and associates including novelist David Mitchell and actress Glenda Jackson. A wonderful memento of the event, it's also a beautiful collector's item and must-have for any Hoban fan. Although in limited supply, copies of the booklet are still available at £6.00 each plus p&p. Order direct from the Russell Hoban Some-Poasyum website.

SA4QE 2011

Russell Hoban turned 86 on 4 February 2011 and fans celebrated in traditional style by leaving quotes from his books in public places. Browse their quotes here. The Russell Hoban community group The Kraken sent Russ a birthday gift of The Kraken Rum. Read a report about this at the Fantastic Reads blog.

Riddley Walker SA4QE special

To celebrate 30 years in print of Russell Hoban's most famous novel Riddley Walker, SA4QE broke with its February tradition and conducted an extraordinary SA4QE on 5 November 2010 in which participants shared their favourite quotes from the book. This site was updated throughout November 2010 with the quotes submitted.

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